Prefabricated buildings are dwellings that have various building structures or modular components that are pre-manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard modules that can be easily shipped and assembled on-site into the final building structure. These modular components are sectional prefabricated building structure sections that are prepared as a combination of building modules or sections that are manufactured in a manufacturing facility, and then delivered to their intended site for construction into a final building structure. The modular components are jointed together using various construction techniques in order to produce a final building structure at the building site. The modules can be assembled into a single building using various types of construction equipment that can hold the modules together in order to be joined together using various joining techniques.
The modular components are typically constructed within a large indoor facility on assembly lines. Such facilities use an assembly line track to move the modules from one workstation to the next. These modules can take one to three months to be constructed, but may take much less time to join together into a final building structure. The placement of the modular components together generally takes several hours or days. Once assembled, modular buildings are essentially indistinguishable from typical site-built homes.
Prefabricated modular buildings are advantageous in that factory production ensures consistent quality and mass supply. However, since all of the modular components are standardized and produced in a factory, the degree of on-site freedom of adjustment and construction is low, and special skills are required for assembly.